That BESTOR Problem
by demmons1399
Summary: Mal, Kaylee, a few laughs, a few truths, cold showers, and those awkward moments that happen to us all...


A bit of fluff about my two favorite character...lots of spoilers, just have fun!

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Captain Malcom Reynolds maneuvered the shuttle with the ease of a long familiarity of the controls. He hit the com switch for Serenity..

"You there Kaylee?"

the perky voice of his mechanic came in loud and clear..

"Right here Capt'n"

"I'm not that far out, get her ready for docking in about five..."

"She's already prepped and ready for ya to come back home."

"Good. You get that coil in the engine straitened out yet"

She giggled "Wouldn't be a coil if it were straitened out Capt'n..."

"Kaylee.." he growled

She sighed "She's all fixed and shiny as i can get her"He heard her take a deep breath and knew what was coming... "That new style compressor tho would be just the thing..."

"Now you listen to me Kaylee... we already talked about this...No New Parts!..we need fuel cells more than we need these Top Of The Line parts you keep asking for..."

"But She'd be so happy for them Capt'n.." she begged

"I know, I know.." he said in a softer tone "But we'll just have to make do for now. She'll be fine. You just make sure she ready to go back to Persephone."

"Aye, Aye Capt'n Tight Pants!"

He could hear the smirk in her voice before she disconnected the com. Damn that girl. She'd been calling him that since she'd seen him in those fancy duds he had to wear to that gorram ball. And for the life of him he couldn't get her to break the habit. At least she had the decency to use it only when no one else was around. He could just imagine Walsh latching on to that nickname with a death grip...he sighed and focused on what was most important at the moment...getting back home to Serenity.

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As he docked the shuttle he thought back to its previous occupant. The silk hangings and pillows were gone but the scent of Inaras favorite incense always seem linger lightly in the air. The reminder used to hurt..a lot, but the more time passed, the more she became a soft but sad memory to him.We all have our own choices to make in this life and she made hers according to what she felt was best for all. That was how he lived his life so he couldn't fault her for living hers that way. He hit the final latch on the shuttle and went into Serenity to search for his mechanic, Lord knows what she had gotten up to, being left alone for the past 12 hours...he was willing to bet there would be more flowers on the walls...he smirked...

He ambled down the hallways towards the engine room (he just knew that's where Kaylee would be), and thought about today's job...These runs from Persephone to Whitehall were becoming a regular deal...well as regular as anything out here on the rim...not a bad profit either. Whitehall was turning into a haven for old browncoats looking to hide. and after what he and his crew did to Patience after she'd tried to double cross them...well...lets just say the NEW mayor treated Mal and his crew like gold plated dynamite...valuable, but apt to explode if handled wrong. The plus side of all of this was that he could do these runs solo...well not exactly solo. He always kept Kaylee in something went wrong with the ship. The rest of the Crew(Zoe, Walsh, and Jayne) got some needed time off planet side on Persephone. He felt bad sometimes, always keepin Kaylee on the ship and all, but she always said there was no where else she would rather be than in the engine room makin her Serenity happy.

However, he always made sure to give Zoe and Walsh some extra coin to bring her back something. The one time he made the mistake of askin Jayne to get something nice for Kalee, he brought back batteries saying that these should keep her happy now Simon was gone. He nearly busted a tooth when they mysteriously ended up in his stew later.

He leaned into the engine room and saw her sitting on the floor, her back against the engine and her eyes closed.

"Everything alright there Mei-Mei?"

"Feeling shiny as always Capt'n." she said in a quiet voice.

oh no, that don't sound good and he sat down

"Kaylee, you got no call to be lyin to your Captain."

Her eyes snapped open and she glared at him

"Hey, calm down. just sayin you seem kinda blue is all. What's botherin my favorite mechanic?"

She smiled at him "seein as how i am your only mechanic..." she looked away and sighed."Ship seems mighty empty is all."

He smirked then put on a big pout "You sayin i'm not enough company for ya?"

She got all flustered" No, no. Its not like that Capt'n..."

He laughed "Relax Mei-Mei, I get it" the he got serious "Its not fair everyone else gettin a break and you stuck workin. Next time, you go and Walsh can stay. He might know half as much as you but that's still twice as much as me."

Kaylee burst out laughing"True as that may be Capt'n, i don't think Zoe would take to kindly to you keepin Walsh here on there days off."

"You gotta point."

"besides, nuthin makes me happy like being with my girl."she patted the engine like a loving parent.

"You still haven't answered my question...whats got you sittin here lookin all sad eyed?...is it you missin' Simon"he said quietly

"No, not really. I mean ya, i miss him,and River too...its just...them havin to leave so soon after Inara ran off..."

Mals face got dark, his lips pressed into a thin line. A sure sign that a storm was brewing. She back peddled quick...

"Don't get me wrong Cap't, I loved Inara. She was the big sister i never had. She even gave me some dresses and shineys before she left...i just miss her is all"

His face softened and he gave her a sad smile "Its alright Kaylee, i understand, i miss her too."

She looked at him shyly " Its still hurts?"

He sighed " Not as much...she was never truly at home here. When the Academy

offered her the chance to be Head mistress...she went where she felt she needed to be. We cant fault her for wanting to be home."

"No we can't."she said with a small smile as she looked lovingly at Serenity's engine

They sat in a comfortable silence. Both there backs to the engine feeling the soft hum try to relax them. After a while Mal spoke up.

" you still haven't told me whats been botherin you. It is Simon, isn't it..."

She gave him a small sad smile " in a way it is and in a way it isn't...its more the way he saw me i guess..."

"I don't follow?"

" I knew it was never gonna workout. On the ship it was easier to pretend. He's a boy, I'm a girl. We're both about the same age. I smile pretty at him all the time, so why not. But off the ship...everything was all wrong, i was all wrong...he's a Doctor from the core and I'm a scrubby outer rim mechanic and he couldn't see past it. All he could see was all the parts that didn't fit. The parts he felt he could make better. He couldn't get past those parts and see the whole woman...I guess it doesn't hurt as much when you don't get your hopes up in the first place." she smiled but he could see the unhappiness in her eyes...and that just wasn't good enough for his Mei-Mei, dammit...so he put on his evilest grin and said casually...

"I seem to recall the day i met you, i saw a whole bunch of your parts, rights where we're sittin actually, and they were ALL woman, of course they were under that idiot Bester at the time..."

Kaylees jaw hit the floor but Mal ignored it and kept going on..

"Heard alot of womanly moaning and groaning as well i reckon.."

He was afraid that if her eyes got any bigger they just might fall out.

"Capt'n" she practically whispered" you never told me you was watchin.."

It was his turn to be a bit flustered "Its not like i could have missed it since it was in a public area..on my ship." He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Kaylee, you are, without a doubt, the most beautiful, wonderful person i know. You're smart, sexy, kind, funny, and whole bunch of other things i don't need to be telling you...You're a hell of a woman Miss Kaywinnet Lee Fry. and anyone who doesn't see it is a fool...on or off the ship."

Kaylees face lit up like three suns

"thank you Capt'n" she said simply

"Now don't you be gettin any uppity ideas that you are sooo wonderful that you can just up leave me and Serenity in the dust."

"Capt'n...you know that would never happen. This is where i belong, Serenity will always be my home."

"Suppose your right." he grinned again "Since you did christen her and all.."

"Capt'n!" she was blushing so hard that she thought she just might melt into the floor...but for the first time in along time, that felt good

Mal stood up, brushed his hands on his pants, and held his hand out to help her up.

"All right Mei-Mei, lets clean up a bit and head into town. We don't have to go get the others on Persephone till later tomorrow." He bowed low to her and smiled

" Would you do me the honor of letting me take the prettiest mechanic in the rim to dinner the fine evening?"

She giggled "It would be my pleasure Capt'n Tight Parts!"

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Later that evening, Mal was on the bridge trying to focus on shutting down the ship for the night. Unfortunately, other disturbing, albeit pleasant images, kept distracting him. He couldn't even decide which ones turned him on more, her moaning and sweating under Bester on the engine room floor, or the way she thrust her hand in in the engine and with practically a snap of her fingers, fixed the unfix-able. He sat down heavy in the pilots chair, wiped his hands over his face and stared out into the night... It had taken three weeks of cold showers after meeting Kaylee to get those images out of his head. She was crew and he had no call to be taking advantage of that. So if every once and awhile she smiled a certain way, or wore those tight overalls, or even gave him a hug after a hard day working on the engine, smelling of grease and sweat...he just sent himself to the showers for a few days till he could look at her as just his Mei-Mei again. His beautiful, sexy Mei-m...its was gonna be a long cold night in the showers tonight...he sighed

He heard her coming up the stairs to the bridge behind him. He put a clamped down those dirty thoughts and pushed them to the back of his mind...for now.

"Mei-Mei" he said as he turned around " What you still doing up, figured you'd be tired after a long..." the sentence died on his lips as his own jaw hit the floor.

She stood in the doorway holding and old metal tray that had a battered teapot and some old tin cups on it, but Kaylee...my god...

She was wearing a pale green silk dress that draped over her left shoulder. It was gathered at the waist...showing off every curve...by a wide darker green sash held by a clasp shaped like a golden dragon. The color of her dress made her eyes glow green and she had done something with her makeup (Kaylee's wearing makeup?!?!) that made them burn like pure jade on fire. Her light brown hair was pulled up and held by a matching dragon clasp with soft curls draping down to frame her face.

My god, she was...Inara had always looked like a princess. Like she had just stepped out of some fairy tale...but Kaylee...she was a Goddess. Forget about cold showers, they were gonna have to put in Cryo freeze for about a year to try to forget this.

"Um Capt'n... I mean Mal. Can i.. i mean,..may i come in?"

He sat up strait "Uh sure..of course." he stammered

She smiled nervously, tripped going up the last step but straitened up quickly without dropping the tray.

"I made some tea, thought you might like to have a cup."

"That's"...gulp..." mighty kind of you Kaylee." he said lamely

She quickly went to sit in the chair across from him, the tray rattling dangerously before she managed to set it down between them. As she poured the tea, he hands shaking, she struggle for something to say.

"So...um..how..er...how are you feeling...I mean...doing this..um..evening?"

"Well...ah..mighty fine now...I mean...I guess..."

"Here's your tea." As she went to hand him the cup there fingers brushed against each other. Kaylee jerked her hand back so quickly that the cup dropped and spilled boiling hot liquid all over Mals lap. He jumped up with a howl.

"Oh Capt'n, I'm sorry." She stood up quickly, knocking over the rest of the tray, splashing the rest of the hot tea all over the floor and on Mals feet. He jumped out of the way. Kaylees eyes filled with tears.

"Its fine Mei-Mei, its alright, its OK..."

The tears were pouring down her face, her head down

"I'm so sorry Capt'n. I just wanted to show you...i mean...no...how much you mean to...I mean..." and with a sob she fled the bridge.

"Kaylee don't..."but it was too late, he was talking to empty air. He looked down at his ruined pants and the tea set scattered across the floor. Ran his fingers thru his hair and said to himself "Looks like we got a situation here."

After he cleaned up, he went down to the engine room to talk to her. He practiced all the things her should say "I'm flattered Mei-Mei, but I'm your Capt'n. It isn't..."

He walked into the engine room, saw her, and lost the battle within himself that he knew he really didn't want to win in the first place.

She was still wearing the green silk dress, but it was pulled up on both sides and hastily tucked into the sash to keep her legs free. The makeup was wiped away and was replaced with streaks of engine grease. Her hair had fallen out of its elegant style and was hanging down around her face. Standing on a crate, leaning against the engine, with her arms in up to her elbows.

He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

" Just thought I'd strip down and rebuild that compressor, see if we can get a few more miles out of her..."

"Kaylee..."

She turned to face him, her eyes down, her voice hurt.

"Don't Capt'n. You got no right to come in here and make me feel more foolish than I already do. I know I'm nothin fancy, nothing special. I'm just a grubby rim mechanic so let me do what I do and fix this here compressor. I got no call to be tryin to fix people."

Before she could turn away he grabbed her shoulders, lifted her off the crate and set her down in front of him. Without taking his hands off her shoulders he pulled her to him and kissed her. He kissed her with all the passion, need, and wanting for her that he had tried to bury since they had met..

When oxygen became a necessity, he pulled back and looked into her eyes, afraid he might have scared her a bit with his abruptness.

She looked right into his eyes and said a bit breathlessly" Well this changes things I reckon."

"That it does." He kissed her again gently " You've had my heart in your hands since you first put them in Serenity and made her sing."

She gave him her patented Kaylee megawatt smile."That was beautiful...Mal"

He smiled at her saying his name "I only speak the truth as i see it...and I never again want to hear you talk poorly about yourself."he grinned" I got high standards and i expect you to live up to them."

She giggled "Aye, Aye Capt'n Tight Pants!"

He rolled his eyes "What do I gotta do to get you to stop callin me that Girl!"

Her eyes traveled slowly down his body and with a grin she said "Lose the pants!"

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Walsh fell into the pilots seat "I'm gonna miss those feather beds...all warm and comfy."

Zoe smiled at her husband, he always complained when they got back from vacation.

"Don't worry baby. I'll keep you warm."

"None of that talk on my bridge." Mal said as he came up the stairs to the bridge.

"Of course sir." they said in unison... smiling

"Walsh, set a course for Ariel. We got a pick up there."

Zoe looked at the Captain " We got a job on a Core planet?"

"No just a new engine part that we can't get on the rim."

Walsh grinned"You got it. one pleasure cruise to the Core coming up!" He Started punching up the co-ordinates when the com came on..

"Capt'n...you up there?"

Mal leaned in "Ya Kaylee, whats up?"

"Well you know that BESTER problem that we had in the engine room last night? Well its looking like it wants to happen again. Do you think you could come down here and give me a hand?"

"Be right down." and clicked of the com.

Zoe's eyebrows rose "Bestor problem..sir?"

"You know these kind of problems can escalate Zoe. Things could get out of control. Best if you keep everyone away from the engine room for ...awhile."and with a grin he leaped down the stairs and took off for the engine room

"About time" Zoe said with a smile under her breath as she watched him go.

Walsh looked lost "Was it just me or did the Captain look positively giddy? And whats a Bester? Is that the part we're picking up on Ariel? I'm Confused!"

Still grinning Zoe turned to her husband "Relax Hun and let me tell you the story of how we met Kaylee..."

THE END

hope it didn't suck

Dye


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